Herman Cain, right, talks in August with economic adviser Rich Lowrie, left, and an assistant in Spencer, Iowa.

WSJ's Neil King has details of the latest
WSJ/NBC poll that asked likely Republican primary voters who they
currently support. The poll also reveals Americans' feelings about
President Obama and the economy. AP Photo/Evan Vucci

Mr. Cain liked the idea, but not the name Mr Lowrie came up with.
"We can't call it that," Mr. Cain said during a cab ride through
Nashville in July, according to Mr. Lowrie. Instead, the former
pizza-chain executive, tapping his instinct for marketing, concluded:
"We're just going to call it what it is: 9-9-9." ("What kind of nerd am
I?" Mr. Lowrie says now.)

It has proved to be a significant
moment for Mr. Cain's presidential aspirations. The former Godfather's
Pizza chief executive has emerged as a top-tier candidate for the GOP
nomination, ranking first in the latest Wall Street Journal/NBC poll.
And his plan is getting a significant share of the credit—and
scrutiny—for its simplicity as well as its radical prescription for the
tax code.
"I think people crave the big idea when it comes to taxes," said
Joseph Thorndike, a tax historian who is skeptical of the Cain plan.
"People want to see the system fixed in a fundamental way….This has that
kind of promise." Mr. Thorndike noted that President Reagan had a
similar-sounding idea in 1980—a "10-10-10" plan, representing his
intention to lower taxes by 10% for three successive years.

Mr. Cain's plan clearly has roots in the
Reagan-era antitax movement. In constructing the proposal, Mr. Lowrie
consulted with conservative tax icon Arthur Laffer, often viewed as the
father of supply-side economics. Many conservatives continue to espouse
his view that lower tax rates and a wider tax base can accelerate
investment and production, and even produce greater tax revenue in
certain circumstances. Liberals say Mr. Laffer's ideas led to
over-optimistic assumptions about how low tax rates could go. In fact, Messrs. Cain and Lowrie were
on a trip to Nashville to get Mr. Laffer's blessing for their plan when
it was given its name, according to Mr. Lowrie. He said that during
their meeting, Mr. Laffer wrote an "A+" on the document and signed it as
a souvenir.
Mr. Laffer confirmed the meeting and said he "could well have done
something like that," but doesn't specifically recall giving the plan a
grade. He said Mr. Cain's principles on taxation are "really sound," and
that Mr. Cain himself is a "world-class candidate," but he also praised
several other GOP candidates. In a statement Thursday, Mr. Laffer
said Mr. Cain's plan "would be a vast improvement over the current tax
system and a boon to the U.S. economy."

The "9-9-9" plan would essentially
scrap the existing tax code and replace it with just 9% tax rates on
income, businesses and sales. Current taxes on investments would be
eliminated or reduced, and payroll taxes also would be eliminated along
with virtually all itemized deductions.

In practice, Mr. Lowrie's design combines two ideas that have figured
prominently in conservative tax debates in recent years. One idea is a
flat tax (Mr. Laffer for years has championed this idea.) The other is a
national sales tax.

Herman Cain described his 9-9-9 tax plan as
one that will raise as much money as the current system, maybe more, and
have more people paying taxes. John McKinnon on The News Hub discusses
whether the plan really adds up.

Admirers see
it as a breath of fresh air in what is often a stultifying debate over
how to rewrite the mammoth U.S. tax code. Many conservative economists
have praised the Cain approach's shift to taxing consumption while
encouraging savings and investment. But some business
people—particularly retailers but also home builders—cringe at the
prospect of a national sales tax. And liberals worry it would raise
taxes on lower-income people,or deepen the current deficits, or maybe
both.

Mr. Lowrie, a 47-year-old wealth-management adviser for Wells Fargo
Advisors in the Cleveland area, has studied conservative tax theory for
years. He has known Mr. Laffer for about 20 years through his work, he
said. He first encountered Mr. Cain at a conservative conference in
2004. When Mr. Cain was looking for an economic adviser, Mr. Lowrie said
he was excited by the opportunity. A Cain campaign spokesman confirmed
details of Mr. Lowrie's account, including the development of the 9-9-9
plan.

Mr. Lowrie doesn't have an advanced
economics degree, but said that isn't a hindrance. "You don't need a
Ph.D. to understand a few simple truths of economics, any more than you
need a Ph.D. to know what will happen when you hold a bowling ball over
your foot and drop it," he said.
A longtime collector of Ronald Reagan campaign buttons, Mr. Lowrie
has cultivated a smaller collection of baseballs signed by his economics
heroes, including Mr. Laffer. "These are my go-to guys," he said.

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While I do not particularly like the idea of a national sales tax, I am not worried about it since I know that it stands little chance of making it through Congress. But the 9-9-9 Plan offers a springboard for Congress to drastically reform the monstrous tax code and while the final product may not contain a sales tax, it will be a vast improvement over the present tax system.

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About Me

A Texan who loves the truth and hates the lying, cheating, and deliberate prevarication that characterizes so much of our civic discourse these days.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
RIPOSTE, n. 1. Fencing: a quick thrust after parrying a lunge 2. a quick sharp return in speech or action; counterstroke.
- The Random House Dictionary of the English Language...........
You can contact me by sending an email to me at: leorugiens23@gmail.com